Aldes — the Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists — have put together a shortlist of Liberal Democrat MPs and parliamentary candidates who they think can play in important role in the Commons thanks to their background and/or interest in science.
As Aldes explain:
The Team Science campaign thinks that candidates with a background in science, engineering, technology and medicine have a great deal to contribute to politics and are currently underrepresented in Parliament. For this reason we are championing support for the following team of Lib Dem candidates in the 2015 general election.
And here is ‘Team Science’:
- Judith Bunting (Newbury): a Natural Sciences graduate with an inorganic chemistry focus and a career as a TV science director, working on programmes including Tomorrow’s World and Horizon
- Lucy Care (Derby North): an Engineering Science graduate and Chartered Engineer with a career in the manufacturing sector
- Dr Julian Huppert MP (Cambridge): holder of a PhD in Natural Sciences and the only MP to have had a science research career
- Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon): a Physics graduate with a career spent teaching Physics and Maths
- Dr Jenny Woods (Reading East): holder of a PhD in astrophysics and currently working to connect policymakers with academic research to drive evidence-informed policy
- Simon Wright MP (Norwich South): a Maths graduate and former maths teacher as well as being Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Space Committee
More over on Aldes’s site.
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18 Comments
Can I shout out for mathematics here?
I would love to see all six elected or reelected in May.
Very best of luck to Team Science!!
Is maths a science? It’s debatable that the entire field is. It straddles arts and sciences so should not strictly be in ‘team science.’ How about ‘team education’? Sounds far more inclusive to me 😉
Yeah, but then you’d have to include all the humanities as well!
How about team STEM?
(I think Maths is counted as a Science at university – Maths degrees are BSc rather than BA.)
Is there a LibDem campaign to further the cause of cultural history so I can join the group and back any MPs who studied or teach it and therefore share my vices?
They do science at Oxbridge – I thought they only awarded BA’s 🙂
[Aside: the above is bit of a dig at those who think science degrees can only be BSc.]
Given the complaints about the disproportionate numbers of MP’s who were educated at a few select education establishments, it is a shame that the LibDems are listing three people with Oxbridge degrees (Judith Bunting, Dr. Julian Huppert and Dr Jenny Woods), with the other three effectively representing Durham (Lucy Care) and Imperial (Layla Moran and Simon Wright). I hope that “Team Science” can encourage STEM graduates from other universities to come forward. But definitely a step in the right direction as it opens another debate about the skills and experience we should be looking for in our MP’s.
That wasn’t what I said Roland.
I believe you just “affirmed the consequent”. :p
Ooh. Nice list. How does one get on it?
Dr Mark Wright (PhD Astrophysics, writes scientific modelling software as day-job)
^ And PPC for Bristol South, of course!
“Is maths a science?”
It’s the Queen of the Sciences.
To say Maths is not a science, would be like saying music is not an art.
Liberal Al
It’s a genuine debate whether maths is just a science – it is a broad subject and does not just involve logical propositions, deductions and quantifiable outcomes but aesthetics and philosophy. In fact music can be quite mathematical, so you make my point for me. Maths is ‘queen of sciences’ in the sense that science is a form of knowledge. Though again, other subjects may disagree! Go team education!
Is this list in part a consequence that these candidates all have relatively major research institutes in their prospective constitutencies and they are felt likely to have large resident populations of those dependent on the science industry?
Helen – totally agree, in my opinion to do maths well you do need an artistic streak.
I think this artistic awareness and the ability to bring it to bear on a STEM subject is part of what distinguishes a great practitioner of science.
As for the maths of music, it reminds me of the time I spent at Uni. with a house mate who was studying music and who’s passion was jazz, both myself learning and helping them understand the maths behind the particular branch of jazz music they were studying and attempting to play. Plus we shouldn’t forget that maths is fundamental to the change ringing of church bells; part of the UK’s English heritage.
Maths is absolutely not the queen of science because you can’t have science without maths. You can have a country without a queen.
Helen, couldn’t all the things you’ve said about Maths also be said about Science though?
I think something counts as a “science” if the necessary methodologies can be applied to it. Doesn’t mean it can’t also be treated artistically.
Dear all, thanks for the comments and apologies for a delayed response.
Daniel Henry: thanks for your support – you can find practical ways to support all the candidates at http://aldes.org.uk/teamscience/?page_id=8. There is an action day in Oxford (for Layla Moran) tomorrow and an action weekend in Cambridge on 6-7 December.
Mark Wright: the selection process for our Strategic Seats is over now I’m afraid. The details for entry were here: https://www.libdemvoice.org/team-science-wants-you-42611.html. I did try to contact you by email to ask if you wanted to enter, but maybe it ended up in your spam folder? In any case, we’re going to build a page for all PPCs who would like to promote their science and engineering credentials so please do send a short bio and your policy priorities to teamscience[at]aldes.org.uk and we’ll get you onto the site.
While the philosophical discussion on where maths sits with the other sciences is interesting, we were more interested in candidate’s ability to argue in favour of supporting science research and industry and in respect for evidence. Some of parliament’s greatest advocates for science have not been science graduates. Simon Wright MP has been very active in promoting the UK space industry and in supporting partnerships between academia and industry.
Matt: the selection was open to all constituencies and the strongest entries were judged by the Aldes committee. It’s a happy coincidence that many of the candidates have strong local science and engineering firms in their constituencies.
Please keep an eye on the Team Science campaign site and the #teamscience hashtag for opportunities to support.
Ed Long
Campaign organiser, Team Science